Nine Lives by William Dalrymple

Nine Lives by William Dalrymple

Narrated by Daniel Philpott

Running length around 10 hours which can be reduced to around 8 hours if you increase the speed to 1.2 without any loss of diction or understanding.

Genre- Non Fiction religious book

Rating- negative for the abysmal narration (more on that later!) 3/5 for the intent and 4/5 for the discovery that is india and its religious practices.

William Dalrymple is not an Indian, and once this is fixed to your brain then you can marvel the fact that a non Indian has managed to go to the corners of the country to go into the depth of the different religious practices in our vast nation. But since he is not an Indian, even with the highest dedication he is still a third person who understands the second and first person narrative to the best of his ability.

So it is a commendable fact that his intention is so great and his research is so vast and to take time and try to understand the psyche of the devotee is not a small feat indeed!

When someone who does not understand the local dialect can deliver such a vast treatise then we can very well imagine what an indian with knowledge of the local dialect and rituals could have achieved! Of course there are many novels based on these practices in different languages but none which encompasses so many different practices touching all the ends of the country and how!

Now, I am sure the Book is good to read but the audio version is a big torture to your ears! This is specially so if you are an Indian with a fairly good diction! So while the part of the author is really good especially his own thoughts; the moment the narrator tries to narrate what the indian says or thinks, he gets a creepy accent like the accent of APU in Simpsons! The narrator becomes a cartoonish voice over character who tries to enact how an Indian may sound as if this is a stand up comedy! Even the routine Indian words are mis pronounced and so badly pronounced that you fervently beg for him to stop! You want him to narrate in normal voice just like William’s other novels like Anarchy! Almost every other indian word is killed and then burnt by the narrator and then some!

If you try to move past this horrible torture then you get a view of the religious diversity of India! In fact this book may urge you to search more!

In effect the novel is a sort of travelogue of the author on different practices of India and when he meets such practitioners he tries to get their life story in short and that makes for an interesting read!

He starts with a Jain lady Monk who is actually a Swethambara and describes the trials and tribulations of monks like her to reach this situation. How they try not to harm any living creature and how they give up every attachment one by one! Again if you ignore the ridiculous accent of narration the whole story and their arduous but firm dedication will shock you!

He then talks about the Thayyam dancer of Kannur, about how in two months of the year, a jailor and a manual labourer becomes a dancer who is revered by all. How he became the dancer and how he gets by. It is a great tale indeed but even here the author’s lack of local knowledge and dialects comes to the core in his description of the situation in Kerala.

The next story is of a devadasi Rani Bhai and how they live their life in devotion to god and how what they do is in fact a type of prayer. Of course he did give a glimpse on their difficult life.

The next story is about the Bhopa people, who are the priest-singers of the folk deities in the state of Rajasthan, India. They perform in front of a scroll, known as phad (par in the Rajasthani language) that depicts the episodes of the narrative of the folk deity and functions as a portable temple.
He talks about the most famous Bhopa artist called Mohan Bhopa who used to perform continuously and even over night! He used to remember his lines when in fact he was illiterate!
That was apparently a requisite since then you would just repeat what you heard without your own ‘literate’ mind! Of course the talent is natural and made better with practice! The author knew Mohan Bhopa personally and the way he describes the whole act is almost real and you can imagine it, then of course the horrible accent hits you and its ground zero again!

He then goes to SIndh and talks about Lal Pari or Red Fairy who is a devotee of the local god there. Here also her origin from jungle to Kolkatta to Sindh is described in great detail (if you again ignore the accent!).

The next chapter is of a Tibetian Monk who first became a monk then a soldier and then again renounced everything to become a Monk again. This chapter tells us about the atrocities done by the Chinese over the people of Tibet and how they took over their peaceful country with so much torture and force.

Many of these stories are bigger and spread over two chapters or so and it is very interesting. Of course since it is Tibetian, the accent (as realised by the Narrator that is!) is better and is one of the actually listenable part of the audiobook.

He then goes down south in Tamil Nadu and talks about the Bronze and other idol maker of a famous temple who is a descendant of a long line of makers and how it is a big process with lots of intricacies and how only they make the original idols. How it is passed from generation to generation and how it may be lost soon.

The next stories move on the Kolkatta and the tantrik funeral site and how their Tantrik rituals are done. How the two tantrik practitioners came there and a short introduction to the rituals. It is scary sometimes when they describe animal sacrifice and drinking blood and other gross liquids and I must say that being an Indian, even I (am sure many are with me in this!) did not know about this!

The final story is about a blind man and his friend and how they came to be the Bauls of Bengal and how they sing and do not stay in a place and how they transcend the barrier of caste and just believe in living!

What the book does is makes you realise just like Paul Coelho in Alchemist, that the treasure you seek is in your backyard!
A similar book called ‘An entirely New History of India’ by Francois Gautier is also very much recommended.

Enjoy, the never ending spirituality and the rich history of India!